Latest in Ukraine

@Richard65 “I think history has shown us that in most all conflicts/wars, nobody really knows what the fuck is going to happen, including nation leaders and military generals, and especially people on social media. The best laid plans of mice and men, and all that.”

General Erhard Raus knew what was happening to German forces in WWII. In 1945, he reminded Himmler that Germany had been getting a hammering from Soviet troops for two years and that the reason they had made it this far was due to the courage and tenacity of their fine German soldiers. Himmler said that he agreed with him, but that all decisions lie with der Führer. Hitler believed that if you will something to happen, it will happen. If you wanted it with all your heart and all your might, it would come to fruition. This is what he told his generals, and they had to listen. Ukraine is engaged in a war it will never win. It is impossible for them to win. Chanting “Slava Ukraini” isn't enough to win, and being a so-called sovereign nation fighting for what people call freedom and independence means nothing. If we go with your premise, is justice ever guaranteed? Does justice just happen because we will it to?

Ukrainians are being sent to their deaths for a war they will not win, a war that has resulted from a conflict between US and Russia. As you have acknowledged, the US ousted Ukraine's leader in 2004 and 2014. The consequence was that war finally broke out. Would Russia have felt the need to enter Ukraine without interference and the ousting of governments by the US?

“The Russians are supposed to be master tacticians, global experts at Chess, (etc...etc...) but Putin has inadvertently shown the weakness of the "mighty" Red Army. He's reduced to forcibly filling his ranks with scared conscripted kids and doesn't even have the decency to inform their mothers when they get their teenage heads blown off. The Ukranians hold national holidays to celebrate fêted old Nazis. The entire shit show doesn't belong in the 21st century, and hopefully this and the genocide in Gaza will be the last of their kind, if we don't all disappear in a nuclear conflagration first. Ukraine and the West had no right to overthrow a democratically elected leader in a coup and Putin had no right to invade a sovereign country. But here we are. If I believed in God I might think about getting on my knees.”

The “Red Army” died in 1946.

Putin has shown no weakness. He is not inclined to panic about anything; he takes his time and never acts in haste.

Ukraine has thrown plenty of “kids” at this war. What is your point? It's a war, and you are criticizing Putin for sending men to battle? Russia has the resources to win this war, and Putin knows that. Ukraine does not, and the truth is Zelenskyy knows that. He constantly pleads with the West because he knows Ukraine is too small and too weak to fight on its own. He also has the knowledge that this is America's war.

@emiliya thanks for exactly proving my point, tapping away at your keyboard as if you're Patton. Give it a rest. You know as much about it as my old aunt, none of us really knows what is truthfully happening and how this will turn out. They are still debating the truth of what happened in the events of WW2, and you think you have an angle on the war in Ukraine that's happening as I type this? You know nothing.

@Richard65 “They are still debating the truth of what happened in the events of WW2, and you think you have an angle on the war in Ukraine that's happening as I type this?”

What are they debating about WWII?

Russia has more resources, more men. How can Ukraine win when they do not have the men to keep fighting? The recent events are that they have abandoned Ukraine to invade Russia, and this signifies that they are losing the war.

@emiliya the fact you asked me what they are still debating about WW2 speaks volumes, and again proves my point. Historians like Beevor are still correcting old assumptions about the events of the Normandy landings on D-Day and decisions made by commanders like Churchill and Montgomery. There's plenty of events in WW2 that are still being discussed and redefined in 2024. How does taking the fight to Russia on their territory signify that they are losing? Maybe they are, or maybe it's just a new phase. My point is, you don't know.

@Richard65 “Historians like Beevor are still correcting old assumptions about the events of the Normandy landings on D-Day and decisions made by commanders like Churchill and Montgomery.”

Antony Beevor has written some good works, and made some mildly unpopular statements. He is not too controversial. What old assumptions do you think he is correcting? Do you think he would have disputed that in 1945, Germany was very close to being defeated by Soviets, and that it was? Is he going to dispute that?

“There's plenty of events in WW2 that are still being discussed and redefined in 2024.”

Which ones?

“How does taking the fight to Russia on their territory signify that they are losing? Maybe they are, or maybe it's just a new phase. My point is, you don't know.”

Ukraine's invasion of Russia is an act of desperation. They have lost more territory to Russia since escalation in February 2022. Russia has had Crimea and most of Donbas since 2014. Zelenskyy said he intends to recapture all of Ukraine, including Crimea. This is what victory looks like to him. How are they going to do that? They are running out of men and cannot replenish them. Russia does not have this issue.

If Trump wins US election in November, he will likely cease weapons manufacturing for Ukraine in US, and stop the extensive military support being provided to them. He will compel Zelenskyy to accept a peace deal.

Even if Trump does not win, Ukraine does not have the numbers of men necessary to win against Russia. Russia is pushing them out of areas they need to be defending in eastern Ukraine and winning them. The Kursk invasion is a PR stunt by Zelenskyy. Maybe it is a way for him to lose the war more quickly, maybe this is what he finally wants.

@emiliya maybe, maybe, maybe.... so you admit you don't really have a clue.

@Richard65 What are you talking about? I said that invading Kursk is a desperate act, that Ukraine is now losing other parts of eastern Ukraine, and that they are going to lose the war.

Who are you, Cathy Newman? You have the “so you're saying” problem. This is not a competition, you know. If it were, you are resorting to bad tactics. Why can't you act in good faith?

@emiliya you began by questioning my original comment, so I replied to you. And now here we are. To say I'm resorting to bad tactics is purely subjective on your part. I could say exactly the same thing. Why can't you act in good faith?

@emiliya
So who invaded Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in '68 and Afghanistan in '79? The bloody boy scouts?

@SpudMuffin The Soviet Army. It was renamed this in 1946. It would be historically inaccurate, certainly now, to use “Red Army” as a name for Russian forces. Since 1992, it has been the Russian army.

@emiliya that's a very fine hair to split! So what exactly is the difference between the 'Red Army' and the 'Soviet Army'?

@SpudMuffin “Red Army” was originally used to describe Bolshevik forces who fought against the anti-communist White armies. Stalin began to prefer the term “Soviets” as Russia was united in fighting the Nazis. It was then officially renamed.

Richard65 asked: “Putin has inadvertently shown the weakness of the "mighty" Red Army.”

Given that Russia is no longer fighting the White army, no longer communist, and is only one nation fighting another nation, do you think it is accurate to refer to our army as “Red Army?” Richard is 100 years late if he really means to refer to the Red Army, and 30+ years late if he is talking about the Soviet Army, which comprised different nations and was communist. What is red about Russian army now?

@SpudMuffin We are no more criminal than any other army. There are many good men who get dragged into war. Some of them believe they are fighting for an honorable cause, that their country and its future is more important than their lives. As far as they are concerned, they are fighting for their homeland and doing what their grandfathers and great grandfathers did in WWII.